This is our future

If you stroll around the gun bloggers long enough, you’re bound to run into more than one person who looks to Canada as an example of what could happen to our firearms rights if we are not vigilant in our defense of the Constitution.

I want to point your attention to this op-ed about the destruction of the Canadian gun culture. Ms. Kay gives a thorough recounting of the events that have led Canada to where it currently teeters on the brink of simply confiscating weapons from their citizens. She also directs your eye onto the particularly wrong case of Jeremy Swanson – a gun collector who has endured repeated indignities at the hands of the police, despite the fact that he has never been so much as charged with a crime.

Often, it’s far too easy to grow complacent with our rights here in the US. “We have the NRA”, I’ve heard people say, “let them take care of it”. The fact of the matter is that the NRA is only as strong as the sum of its members – the real “power” behind the gun lobby that is so feared by the Brady Bunch isn’t the NRA. The NRA has (i think) 4 million members. That’s a huge number. But there are 10 times that many gun owners in the country, and that’s the number that the other side is scared of. 40 Million people.

2nd Amendment activists have a diverse face. Some of us advocate a more radical approach to the protection of our rights. Some of us advocate a more personal, educational approach. While we may sometimes disagree on the methods, we agree that the ultimate goal is the preservation of our right to keep and bear arms. We really only have to look north to see what could happen if we’re not vigilant.–